Valuable products are often produced and inserted into the supply chain surreptitiously by counterfeit producers. Most consumers do not have the expertise to distinguish such counterfeit products from legitimate products. Accordingly, there are needs for a suitable system to help consumers to examine the authenticity of a valuable product during purchase.
Over the last decade, several types of apparatus with inclusion of a RFID have been proposed or implemented to combat counterfeit. In such a way the ID information of a product is compiled and stored in an integrated circuit by the manufacture, and retrieved to examine the authenticity using an external reader and centralised systems when the product is being sold to a consumer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,619 B1, Halperin is observed as describing a tagging mechanism that includes an electronic tag and visible indicia that are attached to an item. Therefore, the authenticity of an item can be checked by the comparison of the number stored in the tag and displayed in the indicia. However this patent has not provided an efficient mechanism to disable the electronic tag so that it leaves chances to reuse the tag for counterfeit products.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,061,382 B2, Claessens is observed as describing an apparatus with RFID tag embedded in a bottle cap and a ratchet mounted on the bottle cork. The authenticity information of the content in the bottle is stored in the RFID tag that would be destroyed upon removal of the cap. The success of the disabling the RFID tag depends on the degree of friction between the cork and bottle surface and the ability of the cork to resist the rotating torque when the cap is unscrewed from the bottle. Therefore, it is not a reliable means for disabling the RFID tag.
In U.S. patent application publication 2008/0069736 A1, Mingerink is observed as describing several types of containers on which a RFID tag is affixed. The tag includes an integrated circuit and an antenna. The information of the contents stored in the integrated circuit can be interrogated by a reader in order to identify the contents included in the container. The deactivation of the tag is generated by the disconnection of the integrated circuit and the antenna. The integrated circuit remains functioning. There are chances for a counterfeiter to recover the used container and reuse it for counterfeit products.
In China Patent application publication CN 1247147A, the inventor is observed as describing a bottle cap in which a RFID tag is embedded. The bottle cap includes an inner cap and an outer cap. The tag would be fractured when outer cap rotates with respect to inner cap. However the solution proposed is not viable due to the ways in which the inner cap engages the outer cap and the bottle.
In China Patent application publication CN 2397060Y, the inventor is observed as describing a bottle cap in which a RFID tag is embedded. The tag is disposed in between the outer cap and the inner cap of a child-proof cap for medicine. The cap is limited to plastic material and use with a bottle having screwing neck only.
Using RFID for anti-counterfeit has major drawbacks. Firstly there are as many as five different RFID standards existing simultaneously. This would lead to technical difficulties and would increase the expense of the examination system. Secondly, RFID technology has physical limitations such as the inability to read through liquids or metals. These limitations have reduced its efficacy and narrowed its application in combating counterfeit.
Although many inventors claim that an interrogating device is a part of their invention, all of them failed to provide a comprehensive design of such a device. In fact, existing tag readers are expensive and require a sophisticated network to exchange information with a remote database. As a result, there has been a persistent need for cost effective readers and a satisfactory data exchange network when applying an electronic tag to deter counterfeiting.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus suitable for using various contact smart cards to store authentic information so as to extend the application of an electronic anti-counterfeit system to products that include metal or liquid.
It is further an objective of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for protecting the authenticity of consumable products. In a locked status, the apparatus prevents the product to which it is attached from being used and provides the authenticity information of the product. The apparatus will disable the authenticity information when the product is released for consuming.
It is further an objective of the present invention to provide a cost effective apparatus and method for verifying the authenticity information stored in the contact smart card, by using public telecommunication networks and a remote centralised device.